[messengers] Facebook ignites bus chase as men pursue stolen bike

Facebook ignites bus chase as men pursue stolen bike
Social networking<http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100811/NEWS01/100811031/Facebook-ignites-bus-chase-as-men-pursue-stolen-bike-#>
services
like Facebook and Twitter are often used to keep in touch with friends, but
as a Knoxville man recently found out, they're also not so bad at fighting
crime.
When Matthew Boles realized his bike was missing from his south
Knoxville<http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100811/NEWS01/100811031/Facebook-ignites-bus-chase-as-men-pursue-stolen-bike-#>
home
last week, he called his roommate, Brad Handley.
"I thought, that was it, the bike's gone, time to get a new one," Handley
said.
However, it was just the beginning.
"Right before I left the house, I checked my Facebook. I check it many times
a day," friend Crista Cuccaro said.
Cuccaro saw Boles' Facebook post about the stolen bike, describing its blue
paint job, yellow letters, silver gear shifts and cable lock.
"Something other than relying on the local police department," Handley
explained.
On her way to the grocery store minutes later, Cuccaro spotted the bike with
a man standing on Broadway near St.
John's<http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100811/NEWS01/100811031/Facebook-ignites-bus-chase-as-men-pursue-stolen-bike-#>
Lutheran
Church.
"It fit his description exactly," Cuccaro recounted. "I said, 'Does it have
a break light on the back?' He was like, 'Yes'."
Soon after, the man holding the bike got on the 22 KAT bus line and was off.
Handley and Boles hit the road in pursuit.
"It was a slow speed chase, basically," Handley explained. "The bus was
stopping every few minutes. It was exciting, all at 30mph."
As they drove, the men stayed in contact with with emergency dispatchers.
"I posted it on Facebook and a friend of mine, she said she saw a bike, the
same bike, same color, same color lettering, someone was getting on the 22
bus headed north on Broadway," Boles says on a 911 recording.
The first dispatcher transferred Boles to another one, relaying information
about the chase.
"I have a gentleman on the phone who is following the number 22 KAT bus
because he has located his stolen property attached to the bus -- his
bicycle," the male voice on the 911 recording explains.
"Oh God," the female dispatcher responded.
"Good Luck."
As the conversation continued, so did the crime's "location".
"They wanted an address but we were moving so we had to tell them the
intersections we were at all the time," Handley explained.
The men followed the bus six miles to the last stop as the cops showed up
just in time.
"I think Facebook's the real hero," Cuccaro said.
As for the man who boarded that bus with the bike, he told police he bought
it at a bar for $20 just minutes before, so Boles decided not to press
charges.
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100811/NEWS01/100811031/Facebook-ignites-bus-chase-as-men-pursue-stolen-bike-
--
Austin Bauman
Owner / Messenger
Green Fleet Messengers
http://www.greenfleetmessengers.com
work: (615) 463-0602
cell: (615) 870-8848
austin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"When you send a bicycle, you replace a car."